Brazil's Cyrela Q1 net earnings fall 38 pct to $34 mln

SAO PAULO May 14 (Reuters) - Cyrela Brazil Realty SA
, Brazil's largest homebuilder by market value,
reported quarterly net income of 101 million reais ($33.7
million), a 38 percent drop from a year ago caused by declining
sales, according to a securities filing on Thursday.

The result missed an average forecast of 124.8 million reais
in a Reuters poll of six analysts.

Tighter financing and bank credit pushed down sales, the
company said in its earnings release. It blamed a "challenging"
economic environment, citing shrinking savings, high inflation
and rising unemployment at home, and a strengthening of the
dollar on expectations of a rise in U.S interest rates.

Despite a slowdown in growth, most analysts see the company
as one of the best-managed firms in an industry that is facing
low home-buyer confidence in the face of a looming recession.

Cyrela said last month that first quarter sales of houses
and apartments fell 53 percent to 723 million reais, while the
vale of project launches dropped 76 percent to 463 million
reais.

Nonetheless, Cyrela posted a gross profit margin of 34.8
percent in the quarter, up from 33.3 percent a year earlier and
up from 32.3 percent in the fourth quarter.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization - a gauge of operating profit known as EBITDA -
fell 37 percent from a year earlier to 154 million reais,
missing the 235.3 million reais average estimate in the Reuters
poll.